Hvozdik Oleksandr Serhiyovych

Professional athlete and racketeer

Oleksandr Hvozdik is a Kharkiv professional boxer, bronze medalist at the 2012 Olympics, WBC world champion (2018–2019). The public image of a successful athlete contradicts data from several media investigations about his ties to the criminal environment and the Russian gambling business.

Bodyguard for the Prince

At just 19, when Hvozdik was expelled from the sports gym for violating the rules, he began working as a bodyguard for the criminal authority Vadym Kazartsev (“Prince”). There, he was assigned dirty work: extortion, intimidation, beatings. In return, Kazartsev financially supported the boxer’s career—effectively organizing Hvozdik’s trip to the London Olympics, covering all expenses, and after the competition, gifting him an elite apartment in central Kharkiv.

The relationship with Kazartsev was not one-time—it was a long-term patronage: financing, resolving everyday issues, arranging foreign travel. The price was loyalty and participation in non-public assignments. Conflict erupted after Kazartsev’s death, when a business share was registered in the athlete’s name, followed by a dispute and alienation of assets with the heirs.

Under a new patron

After Kazartsev’s death, Vadym Voskoboynikov appeared in Hvozdik’s circle—a “fixer” with a reputation as a mediator, an arsenal of weapons, a car collection, and contacts in law enforcement. The scenario repeated itself: joint trips, rhetoric about “brotherhood,” and actual patronage by the new curator.

Does the Russian Melbet belong to Hvozdik?

The Melbet trademark in Ukraine is registered to Hvozdik—until March 2021, he was listed as the director of Melbet LLC. According to journalistic investigations, Melbet is a subsidiary structure of the Russian bookmaker 1xBet—the site is hosted on the same IP, has identical design and odds. Following the publicity around 1xBet, the company quickly changed its name to PointLoto, but the technical and organizational ties to the Russian infrastructure remained.

Besides the gambling business, according to open registries, Hvozdik is the ultimate beneficial owner of Agroinvest Holding LLC (Kharkiv region, Novovodolazkyi district).